A man serving life sentences for the deaths of three Pittsburgh firefighters in a fire that was ruled arson nearly two decades ago was granted bail Monday by an Allegheny County judge.

The bail amount for Gregory Brown was set at $750,000 straight cash by Judge Joseph Williams, who also ruled last month that Brown should get a new trial. That earlier ruling is under appeal by the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office.

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Brown has been in jail since April 1996. It's unclear if he'll be able to post the required bail amount to be released while he awaits a new trial date.

The decision for a new trial stirred emotions among city firefighters and their families, as well as those who advocated for the defendant who they felt was done an injustice.

City firefighters Thomas Brooks, Patricia Conroy and Marc Kolenda were trapped in smoke and flames and died in the fire on Bricelyn Street in the Brushton neighborhood on Valentine's Day 1995.

Brown, now 36, has spent more than half of his life in prison. He was 17 when he was fingered for murder and arson by a then-15-year-old delinquent witness, Imbrahim Abdullah, who claimed Brown admitted when they were detention center bunkmates that he did set the deadly fire.

"What happened at Bricelyn Street many years ago was a great tragedy. There's no reason in the world, though, why that tragedy had to be followed with another tragedy. And what happened here was an atrocious abuse of government power," said Dave Fawcett, one of Brown's defense attorneys.

In his ruling, Williams granted a new trial because prosecutors did not reveal that Abdullah was getting thousands of dollars from a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives reward fund in return for his story.

Evidence of that payment was uncovered by Point Park University students' Freedom of Information requests via The Innocence Institute.

"My students blew me away, man. I had tears in my eyes when that thing came down, because I was so proud of my students," said Bill Moushey of Point Park University.

"The government went out and used money to get witnesses to testify, and it's particularly troubling because one of those witnesses was a young, directionless, fatherless boy who, at age 15, was offered $15,000 to testify in this matter," Fawcett said. "Under our constitution, that kind of thing has to be disclosed. And it was not disclosed."

The day in court brought together firefighters, widows and families of those who died.

"It's very emotional for me and Lynn (Brooks' widow) to meet again. Because over the years, we've had some tough times together," said Joe King, president of the firefighters union. "I reported to that incident and crawled in that window and seen the three bodies of my fallen firefighters, laying there on that floor. So, it's brought back different memories."

Speaking for the union, King said, "We believe in the justice system. We always have, as firefighters. And if it's a decision made by the courts, the judge, that's what we believe in. That's the way we were raised," said King, who noted he was not personally familiar with the criminal investigation.

Brown allegedly set the fire for the insurance money. His mother was found not guilty of homicide and arson, but was convicted of insurance fraud and sentenced to probation.

U.S. Attorney David Hickton issued this statement:

"The decision by Judge Williams reversing the conviction of Gregory Brown in the deaths of three Pittsburgh firefighters in the 1995 Bricelyn Street fire is unjust. We fully support the appeal by the Allegheny County District Attorney and endorse the statement by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The critical statements in the opinion pertaining to Assistant United States Attorney Shaun Sweeney are without factual or legal merit. During the state court trial in Allegheny County AUSA Shaun Sweeney was cross-deputized and served as one of two prosecutors who tried and convicted Gregory Brown of murder. AUSA Shaun Sweeney is an outstanding public servant; one of the finest arson prosecutors in the nation; and currently serves as the Chief of the Civil Rights Section of the U.S. Attorney's Office. We will vigorously defend AUSA Sweeney's conduct in this case and he continues to have my full confidence."